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January 17, 2014

New Year, New Optimism

Hey, look at this! Did anyone else notice it is 2014 already? Yes, I am a couple of weeks late on that revelation but I’ve never claimed to be a punctual person. Ok, I’m going to take that back because I am actually an incredibly punctual person, but when it comes to reflecting on the past year I won’t feel bad for taking a bit of time to really get a grasp on things.

I’ll be the first to admit this past year has been an especially challenging one for me. I had more than a few monumental failures, all of my own doing, and it’s left me in a place where I’m feeling more than a little battered and broken with a healthy dose of shame mixed in just for flavor. Yet despite this, I am determined to come out the other side of it stronger than I have ever been. I believe the best way to do that is to take stock in the things in my life that are good… no, not just good, the things in my life that are fan-fucking-tastic. I’ve got a lot of those things. More than most people in fact.

I’m grateful for my friends who hang out with me several times a week and never complain when I cry tears in my beer and beat myself up for things outside of my control. I’m grateful the only fights we have are over who insists on paying the tab on that particular evening and how we can repay each other’s generosity. I’m thankful that when I accidentally lock myself naked in a bathroom for hours (true story!) I have people in my life who will come rescue me during the wee hours of the morning before daybreak. I’ll never forget the people who have spontaneously showed up at my door, dragging me out to taste test artisan whiskey or those who waited for me on the steps of the public library in the windy cold and walked with me from one end of the city to the other until 2 o’clock in the morning simply because I needed it.

I can’t help but feel joy over the fact that when I announce plans to travel I get e-mails from old friends and potential new ones, all willing to volunteer their time in the hopes we’ll make an image worth sharing on this blog or in some other random corner of the internet. I haven’t forgotten that I have people from Seattle to Los Angeles, San Francisco to New York, Paris, London, Athens and Rome who would all welcome me with open arms if I need a place to crash or to just simply escape for a while. I hope they all know I would do the same for them.

Holding all of that close to my chest I look toward 2014 with a sense of certainty and optimism. I have a refrigerator well stocked with film waiting to be used and some luggage sitting on my floor begging to be packed. Where fate will take me over the coming year I do not know but in February the asphalt highways of the west coast will be carrying me to San Francisco and in March I’ll be gliding through the windy skies to New York.